Transparent film dressings are widely used as protective layers over wounds because they facilitate healing in a moist environment while acting as a barrier to contaminating liquids and bacteria. The films are also used as surgical drapes because of their barrier properties. The film dressings are also used as drapes in negative pressure wound therapies to enable the application and maintenance of vacuum, which has been shown to improve wound healing. Dressings and drapes fitting the above description are available under a number of trade names such as TEGADERM (3M Company, St. Paul, Minn.), BIOCLUSIVE (Johnson & Johnson Company, New Brunswick, N.J.), OP-SITE (T. J. Smith & Nephew, Hull, England), and UNIPLEX (How Medica, Largo, Fla.).
In addition, various specifically-shaped transparent film dressings and corresponding delivery systems have been developed for applying the dressings to specific body parts or regions (e.g., a heel, the inner crease of an elbow, a shoulder, a sacral region).
The polymeric films used in those dressings and drapes generally are conformable, i.e., the films are extremely thin, flexible and supple. Typically, they are supplied with a releasable protective liner covering the adhesive coated surface of the film. When the liner is removed, the adhesive coated film tends to wrinkle and adhere to itself, interfering with the smooth, aseptic application of the dressing to a patient's skin. Various delivery systems have been proposed to address this problem.